We Must Protect The Briefcase
After securing a briefcase containing secret Russian plans, the men of the Australian 6th Division are now under attack by units of the RUSSIAN ARMY!
Determined to keep the plans, the Riflemen and Engineers of the 17th Brigade and the 2/2nd FIELD PARK COMPANY launch a counter attack to delay the main enemy force.
Along with MATILDA II's of the 7th Armored Brigade and Bren Gun Carriers of the Divisional Calvary, can they stop the Russians before getting overrun by the enormous KV-2 tank that appears on the horizon...
Two weeks ago I played my second game of Bolt Action, my first game at the club Axis and Alers. Parking wasn't too bad, though I got there early as they were just setting up. About 30(!) people playing 40K, 8 playing Blood Bowl and 2 some game someone was play testing. We were the only people playing a historical game.
They have lots of 6x4 tables and others. No food, but all the drinks you want from a bar. It was air conned but got quite humid that night. All the terrain comes in pre-set boxes which is very handy. Unfortunately I got the wrong table cloth - I should have picked a desert one! The terrain was prefect for North Africa/Middle east.
* Note to self- become a member so I can book a table next time.
Neither of us had fully painted armies. I wanted to try out a medium mortar, though the rules changes THE SAME DAY to prevent you using 1 spotter for multiple units...so that plan didn't actually work. Whelp. I need to finish my Bren Gun carriers.
I really need a good way to order my figures in their carrying case. I lost track of what unit was what and just grabbed figures and said which ones they were. I STILL need to paint the rear of figures with the correct colour to go with the right weapon - but I did get paints from Metro Hobbies to do that last week.
We rolled for the mission and table edge, but decided to keep it simple as it was his 2nd game of V3 too, and make it a meeting engagement - points for destroying enemy units.
* Note to self - if the objective is destroying enemy UNITS, shoot the small ones!
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| The battlefield looking North East |
The terrain was the typical North Africa wargame - a village made up of square buildings with some trees, fields and walls. I need to get some of this type of MDF terrain myself. The one building missing its roof was found after the game,
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| Looking west |
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| Australian artillery spotters deploy to the highest point of the battlefield |
After deploying my spotter team the Russians deployed a sniper to take
them out. I should have moved them on with the rest of the army. If I
bring them on immediately they might get taken out or pinned before they
can call in the off board artillery.
I brought on my troops as RUN to get them into the cover of the buildings. I brought on the carriers first...and then discovered that's a stupid and suicidal idea. I should have kept them in reserve and brought them on once I knew where the main enemy thrust was. I could then use them and the squad they carrier to get close to and target small enemy teams.
I'm not sure how the carrier survived the shot of the Large HE gun on the KV-2 - I got lucky and only got stunned. Which come to think of it, I don't think I followed the rules for that. I should check next time.
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| The Australian units and British tanks come arrive on the battlefield, and take immediate artillery fire! |
And now...a plan. I briefly looked at the table. I saw the 3 buildings in the centre and decided to hold them. The enemy would come down the walls of the road in the centre, and be shot at from three sides. One AT rifle would go down the far left to attack the enemy armored car there. The mediam mortar would deploy behind the building on the left. One platoon commander went left but then realized no one else could really follow him. Whoops. One carrier would go down the left road with a tank in support. A engineer squad would go into the large building in the centre with a light mortar, platoon commander, AT rifle and medic. The other engineer squad would go right to the building to their front, with a carrier and LMG squad getting to the walls there. The other Matilda II would come far right (of screen) and support from there.
However, what happened was that the Russians had their own plan and were
in a position to shoot me as I ran forward the first turn.
His armored car had a hull machine gun so was BETTER ARMED than my (for the time) heavy armour! And his heavy KV-2 was in a position to shoot my centre to pieces. I would have been better to stay OUT of the buildings it was shooting at!
Furthermore, my inexperienced Mattys didn't move as that would have limited their to-hit roll to a 6, so they stayed put the entire game. Despite shooting the armored car the entire game, one tank did nothing to it!
* - Do Not Get Inexperienced Slow Tanks!
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| Just before the Russian Artillery hits |
Their artillery spotter fired and got a 5+d6 hit (using the Russian re-roll for it) and smashed my centre - with two direct huts on the squad and AT rifle, hitting nearly everyone twice! I really needed to spread out my forces here, and shouldn't have had so many squads this close together.
To add insult, their sniper shot at my spotter and pinned them down!
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| Aftermath after the Russian artillery strike |
The end result was all my units in the centre were pinned, several had lost men and 1/2 my army was stunned. At least the medic did make his points back this turn!
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| Bren Gun team fires on the enemy |
I got one LMG team deployed out out of their carrier and they were able to get some shots off, but I targeted the SMG squad behind the wall. What I should have done is targeted the smaller platoon command and artillery spotters instead. And I really should have just ran out behind the walls and shot the enemy truck filled to the brim with an entire veteran SMG squad!
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| My centre is falling apart as the Russians assault my troops |
My mortars were shooting MOVING targets, which is really stupid, and did nothing so far. His veteran SMG squad jumped out of the truck and wiped out my small LMG squad in the building next to them.My tanks continued to miss.I got an artillery support call on his right squad...and it deviated away. It did land on the enemy centre squad and platoon commander...and just got a couple of pins.
My one good move and shooting was the Bren Gun team on the right. They got into small walled cover and got one turns good shot off at the squad to the north east that was in the open. However, I should have shot his sniper team instead.
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| Matilda II fires its co-ax towards a Russian squad |
My right hand Matty spent the game trying to shoot its co-ax machine gun at the enemy sniper and his squad out in the open. I got some kills and pins but not enough to cause them a problem. I should have shot the 2 pounder at his sniper and got 2 hits each time!
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| My left is not there and my centre is almost gone |
My left flank Matilda II didn't do anything to his armored car that was shooting my infantry to pieces, my carrier failed a morale test and ran away. The AT rifle to the far left (behind the building to the left) spent the entire game trying to hit the armored car and missing. I should have run them up and aimed for some flank shots.
His elite SMG team came out of the building and shot at and killed more men in the building in the centre. But what really caused causalities was his KV-2 shooting into the building with large HE shells. I would have been better off standing outside! The medic got a few more saves at any rate.
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| Lots of pins on enemy units, but no kills |
On the right I kept shooting his large infantry squads. It caused some causalities and pins, but not enough to slow them down except the one in the open on the far right. But that was his inexperienced squad that couldn't do much else anyway! I should have targeted his small teams, even if they were in cover. My 2nd off-board artillery shot did nothing!
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| End Game |
We'd played for 3 hours and needed to refer to my rule book a lot, so we only got 3 turns. We called the game there, but it was obvious who was the winner. I don't think I killed a single enemy unit, and had lost 4, so it was 4-0.
He played much better, used his army well and despite me having 4 more order dice, held the initiative the entire game. I made many mistakes and got bad luck with my artillery shot and he got good luck, but my deployment, planning and execution were all poor.
I should have deployed one squad to the far left building and then covered a LMG team in the centre one. Put both tanks together, and leave both carriers, the AT rifles and FO off the table until I knew where it was a good place to put them. Despite their inexperience, I should have moved up both of tanks too.
Glad that you enjoyed the club. We're spoilt for choice with two dozen tables, beer and terrain to spare. Good to see people leaning into some Bolt Action too.
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